Movie studios are being financially rewarded for AI slop on YouTube
Some Hollywood studios are reportedly earning money from fake AI-generated movie trailers on YouTube, against the wishes of the union representing actors. According to a report from Deadline, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Sony Pictures redirected ad revenue to themselves instead of enforcing copyright protections and shutting down the popular Screen Culture and KH Studio trailer accounts. In response, the SAG-AFTRA union has criticized the studios for profiting off videos that use AI to exploit their members’ likenesses without permission.
Fanmade trailers are nothing new, but AI video generators like OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo have made it easier than ever for anyone to make artificially generated content. YouTube is becoming saturated with AI-generated slop that studios could tackle by issuing copyright strikes against offending accounts, but that would prevent them from monetizing the views on this new influx of content.
Screen Culture has 1.4 million subscribers and almost 1.4 billion channel views, a larger audience than KH Studio’s 683,000 subscribers and 560 million views. The fake movie trailers created by both accounts follow a similar pattern: fusing together short clips from real movies or TV shows with AI-generated content. Many are based on real, unreleased movies that already have official trailers, such as Superman and Jurassic World: Rebirth, while others masquerade as fictitious TV seasons, movie sequels, or big-screen adaptations of other popular franchises.
Two days after Deadline published its investigation, YouTube stopped Screen Culture and KH Studio from being able to monetize their clickbait content.
According to Deadline, the accounts were suspended from YouTube’s partner program for violating its video monetization policies. Creators are not permitted to make videos that are “duplicative or repetitive” or made “for the sole purpose of getting views,” and have to make significant alterations to any material taken from other sources. YouTube’s misinformation policies also bar creators from manipulating content in a way that misleads viewers, which would include creating fake trailers that can intentionally be mistaken for officially produced videos.
Screen Culture and KH Studio can appeal the decision to pause their ad revenue. A notable change has already occurred on KH Studio’s channel — while older videos were described as being a “first trailer,” the three most recent uploads are instead titled “concept trailer.”
Learning that studios are profiting from AI slop rather than protecting actors’ likenesses is likely a gut punch for union members who have worked hard to negotiate AI consent into their contracts.
“Just as SAG-AFTRA is aggressively bargaining contract terms and creating laws to protect and enforce our members’ voice and likeness rights, we expect our bargaining partners to aggressively enforce their IP from any, and all AI misappropriation,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement to Deadline. “Monetizing unauthorized, unwanted, and subpar uses of human-centered IP is a race to the bottom. It incentivizes technology companies and short-term gains at the expense of lasting human creative endeavor.”